Humanity's Last Stand
by Samo13
Summary: 5 years after Vale fell and Jaune, Ruby, Ren, and Nora walked off towards Haven. Humanity has been become a defeated and isolated race. The only solace it has left is the large military oriented kingdom of Atlas, the desolate and small kingdom of Mistral, and a huge off-shore manufacturing facility code-named Sanctuary. This story will follow Operation: Monarchy in Vale.
1. Chapter 1

"Haven's a long way to go" Ruby said. "I know, but it's the only way we have." Jaune replied. "And you're sure you want to come along" Rudby questioned. "The journey will be perilous, and whether we will find answers at the end is entirely uncertain" Ren chimed in. "But we wouldn't be here if we weren't up for it" Nora said bravely. "Then let's get started" Ruby said as the four of them walked off into the brave unknown.

5 Years later…

The dropship shook as it flew through the stormy airspace over occupied Vale. The burning ends of cigarettes illuminated some soldiers faces as they tensely waited for orders. For LCpl Jaune Ark, this was his first combat jump, and he was getting the shakes. Combined with his chronic airsickness, airborne training leading up to this operation have been hell. But this jump was different, they were jumping into a grim occupied city. "Offensive airborne operations have been successful in small scale raids and snatch and grabs, but an operation this big has never been attempted." Jaune remembers Lt Caslo telling the platoon during the pre-jump briefing. Suddenly, everyone was bathed in a dim red light as Caslo stood up. "Get ready!" Caslo yelled, muffled by the loud drone of the engines. Cigarettes were put out as everyone grabbed their static lines. Jaune quickly choked down a bit of puke as he pulled his static line out of his web harness and got ready to stand up. "Stand up!" Caslo yelled as the 24 men of 3rd Platoon, 24th Airborne Battalion the "Iron Dragons" stood up all simultaneously and got their bearings. "Hook up!" Caslo yelled, Jaune reached up for the guide wire and hooked his static line onto it. The light changed to green, "GO!" screamed everyone collectively as, one-by-one, they started jumping. As each man in front of him jumped, Jaune began walking forward until he was looking straight out the door. What Jaune saw, he won't forget till the day he dies, thousands upon thousands of men floating down into the dark Vale city streets. The whole city seemed to still be burning from the pre-offensive artillery barrage. As soon as Jaune froze in the doorway though, he got a firm kick in the ass from the guy behind him, and then as soon as he knew he was out the door, he started counting. "One-one thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, four one-thousand". Until Jaune felt a sharp yank, and all the energy of him falling was transferred straight to his crotch, a sign of a good chute opening, Jaune opened his eyes and began looking for a good landing sight. He saw one almost immediately, an intersection almost completely surrounded by burnt-out cars. he started banking towards it as he was only about 150 meters from the ground, As soon as he landed, Jaune detached his chute and pulled his rifle out, as it was only a matter of time before something found him. "Damn" Jaune said, as a large Beowulf rounded the corner at full tilt sprint. Without even thinking, Jaune aimed and fired his entire 30 round magazine of Armor Piercing 6.8 SPC bullets at the beast nearly turning its head into hamburger as it slowly evaporated. "It's just one of the days" Jaune said as he ran off towards his platoon's rendezvous point.


	2. Chapter 2

General Ironwood sat tense in his comfortable office chair. He looked at his watch for maybe the millionth time in the last hour, 0531 hours, the dropships have started dropping the troops over Vale. "I may have just killed 10,000 young men and women" Ironwood said to himself. "Nonsense" said Ironwood's secretary, Friday, "all of those young men and women voluntarily signed up for the military", "They all knew the risks". Ironwood sat up and walked over to the window in his office "I know they did Friday, but if this operation fails, there will only be 10,000 body bags and an angry populace to report to." Ironwood said as he looked out at the vast expanse of metal and artificial land called Sanctuary. The sun was just cresting over the horizon this far north and he could see the workers starting to pour into the factories. "Did you put together the red folder Friday?" Ironwood asked. "Yes I did boss, but before you read you have to get ready to give a speech to the Main Invasion Force before they begin their amphibious landing at 1100." Friday answered. "Thanks Friday, what would I do without you?" Ironwood said. "Probably still be doing paperwork wrong." Friday smartly answered. As she left the room, Ironwood checked his watch again, 0600, "by know all the airborne troops will either be on the ground or dead" Ironwood thought to himself. "What have I gotten us into" he said as he began working on his speech. Unbeknownst to Ironwood, this was the beginning of the end.

Camp Currahee, three years earlier, Pvt Jaune Ark who was just fresh out of boot camp is enduring pure hell trying to make it through Airborne training. Whoever had persuaded him into going to this school owes him an apology, Jaune thought as he he ran with the rest of hsi training company. "PRIVATE ARK! WHY ARE YOU SLOWING DOWN!" Screamed Drill Sergeant Zim as he got right in Jaune's face. "I don't know Sergeant!" Jaune replied "WELL WHEN THE GRIM ARE ATTACKING YOUR PLATOON ARE YOU GOING TO SLOW DOWN AND RUN AWAY!?" Screamed Zim "ARE YOU A QUITTER ARK?! CAUSE HERE IS MY BELOVED AIRBORNE CORPS WE DON'T HAVE ANY ROOM FOR QUITTERS!" "I'm not a quitter Sergeant!" Jaune replied "WELL THEN FIX YOURSELF BEFORE I HAVE TO WRECK YOU!" Screamed Zim as he moved on to the private behind Jaune.

"Hey Jaune wake up, wake up man, it's 1003 hours." Jaune snapped awake to the sight of his battle buddy, Lcpl Abe Smith, nudging him. "The Lt wants everyone awake now, some grim were sighted about half a klick down the road from us." Abe said. "Shiiiiit" Jaune replied as he stood up and grabbed his rifle. "We've only been here 5 hours" Abe said, "and somehow you've managed to spend 3 of those hours sleeping". "I don't know Abe" Jaune replied "it's just a superpower of mine, being able to sleep anywhere anytime". No sooner had Jaune grabbed his rifle that someone yelled "CONTACT FRONT!", Jaune could see them now, a whole army of grimm were charging balls to the walls towards them. Not only were there Beowulf's, but also Ursa, Creeps, and even a few Death Stalkers. "LCpl Smith, get the 240 firing!" Yelled Lt Caslo as the platoon began firing at the oncoming horde. "Wilco" Abe responded as he picked up the massive M240 Bravo Light Machine Gun and began to fire. Jaune was temporarily deafened by the backblast of a MAAWS being fired a few feet away from him, he barely heard the Lt. yell to Jaune "get command on the horn, we need support!". Jaune began calling into the long range radio mic, "This is India 2-1 requesting fire support, we are under heavy contact." "Copy that India 2-1, this is Reaper 1-1 coming in with a flight of 4 fully loaded F-18's with snake and nape , tell us where you want em dropped." came the reply from the radio. "Copy that Reaper 1-1 I need an air strike on coordinates 158 by 967 going from north to south, will mark friendlies with green smoke, how copy?". "Copy that India 2-1, bringing in 4 times snake and 2 times nape on grid coordinates 158 by 967 from north to south, friendlies marked with green smoke, eta 30 seconds till impact. This is going to be danger close so get watch your heads down there". "Solid copy Reaper 1-1, over and out". Jaune looked up from his radio and map, and saw the grimm were less than 100 meters away now. "Lt!" Jaune yelled "we got incoming air support incoming, 30 seconds!" "Good, we're going to need it!" Lt. Caslo replied. Everyone ducked as the fighter jets then zoomed overhead, followed by a loud boom and a rushing sound. Jaune looked up to a scene straight out of hell, the entire city block was reduced to rubble and covered in burning napalm. A new guy , Pvt West, had jumped up on top of a car and was fist pumping and cheering along with some other guy, "We won! Look at all those grimm run!". It was the last thing some of them did.


	3. Chapter 3

General Ironwood walked down the hallway towards the Sanctuary interconnect tower slowly as he thought of the speech he was about to give. He looked at his watch, 1050 hours, perfect timing he said to himself as he walked through the door to the transmission room. Friday already had the microphone waiting for him "all ready to go boss" she said as Ironwood sat down. "Good, now let's get to it" he said as he put his speech out in front of him. Right at about this time, about 500 miles south of Ironwood, the entire military tuned their radios into the proper channel for the General's speech. Most of them were expected to either be wounded or die in the next 72 hours and they all knew it. They had all been trained for this day, their rifles ready and loaded, helmets securely fastened, and a hunger for Vale to be taken back. Ironwood pushed the transmit button and began speaking.

"Soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Unified Remnant Expeditionary Force, you are about to embark upon a great crusade, towards which we have trained for these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of both Human and Faunus march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the elimination of the Grimm and their reign over the kingdom of Vale, the liberation of occupied territory, and security for both human and faunus in a free task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is numerous. savage, and merciless. He will fight it has been five years since the fall of Vale. Much has happened since then, the Unified Remnant Government have inflicted upon the Grimm great defeats, in open battle. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory.I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory."

As Ironwood finished his speech and released the transmit button his aide, Friday, began to talk to him about different things he had to do later that day. Suddenly Ironwood interrupted her "Friday, I need to walk onto that beach in Vale. Make it happen." He said to her sternly. "Ok boss, I'll get you on a boat later today"."But why the sudden need to walk into a combat zone?" Friday Asked. "I left Vale on a boat, and I'll return to Vale the same way. For all those that don't get to return" Ironwood said as he walked away towards his quarters.

Cpl Lie Ren sat uneasy inside the AAV-P7/A1 amphibious assault vehicle. He was unlucky enough to be put in the first wave of the amphibious landing in Operation: Monarchy. Water kept sloshing into the vehicle from the open ports on top of the craft and soaking Ren and 20 other of his fellow Marines as they were moving towards the beach on the outskirts of Vale. The vehicle commander came over the intercom, "30 seconds till we hit the beach gentleman, good luck and godspeed" he said and then clicked the radio off. Immediately Lt. Durin, Ren's platoon leader, stood up and began yelling over the loud engine of the lumbering vehicle "Marines, this is where we make our stand. I know most of you either knew someone or were related to someone who died during the loss of Vale. This is the time we avenge all of them and take Vale back! This is where the line in the sand will be drawn! Now, FIX BAYONETS!" SImultaneously, Ren and the 20 other marines of 2nd Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment pulled their bayonets out and attached them to their rifles with a satisfying click. The gunner of the AAV started firing his 40mm MK19 grenade launcher in an effort to soften up the beach before the marines offloaded. "Here we go boys!" The Lt. said as the AAV hit the beach with a loud thunk. The ramp of the vehicle then dropped and Ren, being the closest to the ramp, charged out. As Ren rounded the side of the vehicle he saw them, a horde of Grimm larger than any he had seen before, his training took over as he swiftly took a knee and began firing his rifle. As he kept firing soon the other marines began firing also. PFC Yates, being the SAW gunner, propped up his M249 on the edge of the surf and began firing burst towards the horde of Grimm. "Advance" yelled Lt. Durin, Ren stood up as soon as his rifle ran out of ammunition and began reloading as he ran forwards towards the edge of the beach. The Grimm horde were starting to wither as the AAV's and LAV 25's started moving forward under the cover of both small arms from the marines and the vehicle's own 40mm grenade launchers and 25mm chain guns. By the time Ren and the other marines had made it to some sand dunes and a few beach shacks the Grimm were either dead or falling back. "We beat them!" Said a marine as a general cheer went around Ren's platoon and the other platoons around them. The cheer sadly began to peter out as, one-by-one, they all saw a growing dust cloud coming from the edge of the city.


End file.
